India was still a young country to the foray of science when Sir C. V. Raman won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. It was the first instance wherein a scientist working on Indian soil won the highest prize in science. Sadly, it was the last instance as well.
The other Indian Nobel laureates in sciences won the coveted prize working in foreign institutes. Never the less, every landmark discovery in itself has the ability to inspire a hoard of young minds. Apart from Sir Raman, there have been quite a few individuals who have shaped up India’s scientific future. If one talks about Space Sciences in India then Dr. Vikram Sarabhai is a prominent name. The same goes for nuclear sciences as well. Here the inspirational individual was Dr H.J Bhabha who laid the foundation for nuclear sciences in India. Apart from being exceptional researchers they were great visionaries.
Dr Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray and Satyendra Nath Bose (to name a few!!!) are other Indian Scientific luminaries who have contributed to the development of Indian Science. The curious thing here is that all the above mentioned scientists had a strong British connection. All of them were associated with British institutes at some point in their illustrious carrier. Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, widely considered as the father of modern Indian Chemistry was honored by the RSC with a Chemical Landmark Plaque in Kolkatta (formerly Calcutta). With such a strong Indo-British connect I feel it is now for the Gen-Next to take this association forward. With this short historical background I open the blog “Chemical Sciences from an Indian Perspective”.


Did you know- The RSC awards Chemical Landmark Plaques to places where important chemical breakthroughs have taken place!!!!!